Live from Nebraska City…HTC Youth Training!

Last week, I was able to attend “HomeTown YouthForce: Engaging the Entrepreneurial Generation,” a training session which was put on by the Heartland Center for Leadership Development. Held at the Lied Lodge and Conference Center in Nebraska City, Nebraska, the training kicked off on Monday. Attendees came from all over, including Indiana, Texas, Mississippi, Wyoming, Kansas, and Canada. Not only were great ideas presented by an experienced staff in economic and community development; but, the networking provided real world examples of how communities had further developed their youth in leadership and entrepreneurial roles.

The experiences that were shared included “Entrepreneurs in Action” which allowed youth to develop and explore their own entrepreneurial endeavor while receiving community funding and professional mentoring. An innovative youth leadership development program that was shared was a youth philanthropy group which is able to respond to community needs by allocating funds to various sectors of the community. Youth Entrepreneurial Summit or “YES!” has been able to inspire creative minds in their community and become involved in the community and local business.

The quality of products and youth demonstrate the success of these programs and opportunities.

If you’d like to find out more, including contact names or website links—contact me via phone or email, 701-483-2830 or Amanda.Moser@dickinsonstate.edu.

Amanda Lynn Moser
HTC Project Coordinator
Strom Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Focus Groups

The Strom Center has been distributing surveys for people in Dickinson to fill out.  These surveys are on the “Quality of Place” selectors people choose when they think about a place to live.  The 45 and up crowd has already been surveyed.  Today, Lenny Johnson, Elise Daughton, and Sergey Vasyaev went to DSU Main campus and handed out the survey to Student Senate members.  After the survey, Lenny Johnson talked to the senate members for approximately 15 minutes about their answers and the questions.  These students were from as far away as Zimbabwe and Jamaica and some were born and raised in Dickinson, ND.  Remarkably, the most important thing to people in the college age bracket was job opportunities and affordable housing; two things that the Dickinson area offers.  Some of the other top considerations when choosing a place to live was good infrastructure and low crime rate.  All of the top chosen attributes were characteristics of Dickinson and Southwest North Dakota.

Tonight, some members from the Dickinson Young Professionals will be coming to the Strom Center for a short gathering and then to help out with the survey.  It will be interesting to see if there are any differences in answers from the slightly older crows.  The Youth Professionals are comprised of young adults between 21 and 35.  These are the adults that have graduated college or went straight to the work force and have chosen this are to work, live and raise their young families.

If you have any interest in participating in the survey, please contact Lenny Johnson, Marketing Specialist at the Strom Center at (701) 483-2847.

Lenny Johnson
Marketing Specialist
Strom Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Entrepreneur Spotlight – Dickinson going Green

Today Lenny and Sandy went to visit Jason Polanchek, owner of G & G recycling.  They went and spent some time getting to know a little about Jason and his business.  G & G recycling was originally owned by Jason’s father, but when his father was ready to retire, Jason (who at the time was in San Francisco going to a Art and Film school) decided to come home and take over the family business.  Jason says that in the last four years, profits have increased 15-20%.  A staggering amount for a town that does not have any formal city sponsored recycling.  The Strom Center would like to highlight this entrepreneur because the environment and a family business means enough to this young man to continue in his father’s footsteps.   We also would like to promote his business so we picked up 3 paper recycling bins and plan on setting up a pick-up date so that we can help the business.  If your business has any paper that you would like to recycle instead of throwing away, if you call him he will arrange a pick-up, so you don’t even need to spend gas money when doing your part in environment conservation.  If you would like to get more information you can contact  G & G Recycling at 701-483-5501.   Keep up the good work Jason!

Lenny Johnson
Marketing Specialist
Strom Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Job Opportunities in North Dakota

Lenny Johnson of the Strom Center is at a job fair this weekend in Denver, Colorado. He is there to promote the job opportunities available right here in North Dakota. He attended a similar job fair in Michigan last month, with much success. This time around, Lenny was able to get information from more businesses in the area so hopefully it will help draw even more attention to our area, as our state has a lot to offer. Lenny plans to attend future job fairs, including one in Minneapolis, Minnesota scheduled January 17, 2009. If your company wishes to have free representation at future job fairs or for more information, please contact Lenny at (701) 483-2847.

Kim Hayes
Talent Initiative Assistant
Strom Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

The Capitol Christmas Tree, Part 2

As I wrote about last week in a previous blog, the 2008 Capitol Christmas Tree has began its journey to Washington, D.C.  Every year the tree is donated by the US Forest Service to be displayed in front of the White House.  Tomorrow happens to be the day when it travels through Dickinson, North Dakota.

The Capitol Christmas Tree is scheduled to arrive at appoximately 9:45 am.  It will be escorted into town by the Dickinson Police Department, a Dickinson Fire Department engine, the USFS Law Enforcement and a USFS fire engine with Smokey Bear.  The tree will park on Fairway Street next to the Dickinson Rec Center.  Smokey Bear will be available for photos; however, you must bring your own camera.  The Dickinson High School band will be playing seasonal music and a short presentation will be given explaining the history and tradition of the tree.

If you have any questions about The Tree’s visit to Dickinson, please contact Bob Sivak at (701) 456-7848.

Kim Hayes
Talent Initiative Assistant
Strom Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

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